MADRID, 10 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Ministry of the Interior has explained in two separate letters sent to the State Attorney General’s Office and the Ombudsman that the videos of the Melilla tragedy that it has already sent to both organizations include all the available material on the June 24 tragedy in which At least 23 migrants died.
According to Interior sources, the response has been formalized this Thursday, after the Prosecutor’s Office confirmed yesterday that it was still waiting to receive more information in the framework of the open investigation proceedings.
In this way, on the afternoon of this Thursday, the Melilla Civil Guard Command sent the Prosecutor’s Office an “extensive report responding to all the questions that were raised in the letter that the Public Ministry had processed last Monday”, according to these sources.
In parallel, this morning the Secretary of State for Security sent a letter to the Ombudsman responding to the recommendations that this body had made.
The Ministry of the Interior reiterates that the Civil Guard deployed in Melilla on June 24 two aerial means with the capacity to capture images in real time – a helicopter and a drone – with the aim of having “at all times tactical support for the troops deployed on the ground.
To this end, a “redundant system” was established, using the Civil Guard’s helicopter and drone image capture devices, with which “at least one camera could be recorded at all times, thus maintaining uninterrupted air support.
“It is for this reason that the images in the possession of the Prosecutor’s Office and the Ombudsman include all the events in their entirety,” said the aforementioned Ministry sources.
In statements to the press this Thursday before the inauguration of Magdalena Valerio as president of the Council of State, Fernando Grande-Marlaska has indicated that he does not plan to resign despite criticism from his parliamentary partners and the PP.
In addition, it has reiterated that the State Attorney General’s Office and the Ombudsman have “from the first moment” the sequence of “all” the images of what happened regarding the death of at least 23 migrants, which has now been formalized in writing. .
Grande-Marlaska has stressed that these videos reflect that the Civil Guard acted in “parameters of legality and proportionality” following his order to repel any “violent attack” on the border and within “absolute respect for human rights.”
Given the demand from the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Ombudsman for more images of 24-J due to the temporary lapses in the material sent, the minister has commented that in the videos delivered “there is no break in the recording” because it was always on the air, without stop recording, or a Civil Guard helicopter or drone.
“Our Civil Guard acted in terms of legality, proportionality and necessity appropriate to the circumstances and all necessary and precise measures were adopted, also in terms of Human Rights,” he emphasized.
Grande-Marlaska has said that he is “calm” despite the fact that his management is being questioned after a BBC documentary and a trip to Melilla by spokesmen for the Interior Commission, with direct criticism from his parliamentary partners and the PP on whether the migrants died in Spain –the minister denies it– and due to the lack of health care.
In response to the information about the requirement of the Prosecutor’s Office asking for more images -as the Government Delegation has also done-, Interior sources announced this Wednesday that the explanations would be given shortly through the Civil Guard Command in Melilla.
“The Command will answer as soon as possible, explaining in detail the technical reasons that show that all available material was included in the original shipments,” Interior assured. “The material they don’t have is simply because it doesn’t exist,” he emphasized.
The Ministry anticipated that the extension of explanations would also include “statements of the helicopter and drone operators” with which what happened on 24-J was recorded, “as well as details of the flight books of both devices.”
According to Interior, the audiovisual material that the Prosecutor’s Office and the Ombudsman have in their possession, “and that is available to the Interior Commission of Congress”, includes “the entire sequence of events without any gap”. “This is possible because the Civil Guard, for operational reasons, established a redundant system with the helicopter and the drone,” they pointed out.
The “small temporary lapses” have been attributed to three reasons: that the helicopter has autonomy of two hours and had to refuel; that Melilla’s airspace is limited and every time an aircraft lands or takes off, the aircraft has to leave the route of the other aircraft; and that the flight over a fixed point like the one made by the helicopter is “very complicated”.
